Brian Hawkins Washington DC VA Medical Center

VA Director Fired For Sending Sensitive Personnel Information To Wife

Brian Hawkins Washington DC VA Medical Center

VA terminated one hospital director placed on leave following allegations of giving staff unjustified bonuses, failing to inventory $150 million in supplies, obstructing an investigation, and sending VA sensitive personnel information to his wife via email.

In April, VA reassigned Washington VA Medical Center director Brian Hawkins on leave after receiving numerous allegations into a variety of failures at the facility. Over $150 million in supplies was not properly inventoried. Veteransโ€™ lives were placed at risk due to dirty or missing supplies.

A summary of that IG investigation was its focus on how the facility:

  • Failed to keep a normal supply of required supplies and equipment to perform the lifesaving services expected of all major VA medical centers
  • Failed to use proper protocol to remove recalled supplies and equipment to not put veteransโ€™ lives at risk.
  • Failed to ensure supplies were sterile but instead using dirty supplies.

And, we now know the investigation also included evaluating how employees at the facility were receiving bonuses without any justification.

Sound a lot like how many VA directors get the job done? Many of the directors who engage in dark practices insulate themselves by promoting only those who will go along with the criminal code set by the boss.

This is how things went down, circa 2013, at Oakland RO, Phoenix VA, Tomah VA, St. Petersburg RO, and apparently Washington DC VA.

It is safe to say the practice of buddy bonuses is rampant.

Brian Hawkins Termination

VA fired Hawkins last Friday after substantiating allegations that he sent sensitive personnel information from his VA email to his wife. The communications, which included confidential information, such as administrative decisions, were unlawfully shared with her.

RELATED: Take A Look At The Massive Misconduct Investigation At DC VA

Hawkins also impeded on another investigation into bonuses he gave subordinates without any justification. He allegedly had his staff obstruct that investigation such that is was not completed.

Ultimately, the only allegations IG could verify was the unlawful sharing of personnel data with his wife, who was not a VA employee. Any efforts to impede the investigation into fraudulent bonuses were successful in their obstruction.

We may never know the extent of the fraud at the DC VA Medical Center, but we at least know one less criminal will be managing a VA facility.

Unlawful Brian Hawkins Emails

IG reached the following and published a few examples worth noting here:

  • October 30, 2014 โ€“ Mr. Hawkins forwarded his spouse an email chain, Subject: FW: Washington DC AIB ([NAME]). The email contained three attachments: 1) Charge Letter.doc; 2) DC VAMC Issue Brief โ€“ VISN Response 10-27-14.doc; and 3) [COMPLAINANTโ€™S NAME] Letter to the Under Secretary.pdf. These documents contained the identity of the original complaint against the VAMC, the Issue Brief submitted by Network 5 in response, and the Charge Letter submitted by Mr. Hawkins to convene the AIB. These documents provided Mr. Hawkinsโ€™ spouse, who does not work for VA and has no official need to know, details of ongoing VA investigations with VA sensitive information into an ongoing AIB.
  • January 28, 2014 โ€“ Mr. Hawkins forwarded his spouse an email chain, Subject: Secretary Office Action: Report of Illegal recording at DC VAMC. The email chain originated on January 27, 2014, Subject: Illegal recording, from a VA employee to the VA OIG Hotline. In the email, the VA employee alleged that a recording device was found in Police Control, and the VAMC Chief and Deputy Chiefs of Police violated Federal law and VA policy by video/audio recording employee conversations. The employee indicated that affected employees retained counsel and were in the process of filing formal complaints. The email chain reflected that an investigation into the allegations was underway, and Regional Counsel was contacted. Mr. Hawkinsโ€™ email to his spouse included several messages that discussed the allegations and steps VA was taking to address them. The name of the employee complainant was not redacted.
  • June 4, 2012 โ€“ Mr. Hawkins emailed his spouse a document titled: Mike memo.doc. In the body of the email, Mr. Hawkins asked, โ€œHow does this read?โ€ The attached memorandum, Subject: Operations oversight and management, was addressed to the Associate VAMC Director. It discussed Mr. Hawkinsโ€™ disappointment in the Directorโ€™s performance, a personnel matter. It contained a number of action items for the Director to address, proposed completion dates, and a requirement for the Director to meet with Mr. Hawkins to discuss his progress.

I can only assume Hawkins is not the only VA director to engage in these kinds of violations of the public trust.

Brian Hawkins IG Conclusion

IG concluded:

We concluded that Mr. Hawkins violated VA policy by sending VA sensitive information and SPI to his, as well as his spouseโ€™s unsecured, private email accounts. Mr. Hawkins confirmed that he used his VA-assigned email account to send VA sensitive information to his spouse on a number of occasions, but he could not recall the exact number of times he did so. When issued a subpoena instructing him to produce communications he sent from his VA-assigned email account to non-VA, private email accounts, Mr. Hawkins refused to produce those he sent to his spouseโ€™s private email account. He claimed these emails were protected under spousal privilege. VA policy states that VA email is for official use only and there is no expectation of privacy or confidentiality. It does not contain any communication exclusions, privileged or otherwise.

I find these kinds of results interesting. It always seems like VA OIG goes for the low hanging fruit when prosecuting senior executes.

Sharon Helman is one that comes to mind. She was the head of the infamous Phoenix VA which was the epicenter of the wait time fraud scandal.

Helman was nabbed for failing to disclose numerous gifts from a lobbyist and not for her involvement in the wait time fraud that resulted in hundreds of veterans being killed by fraudulent scheduling practices.

Many other VA directors were allowed to resign without prosecution of any kind.

Now, we seek Hawkins not get taken down for fraud related to unjustified bonuses or for failing to properly account for $150 million in supplies.

No.

Our trusty VA OIG was only able to catch him red handed sending unauthorized emails to his wife.

I am glad he was pinched, but in light of the overall gravity of the scandal there, he seems to be getting off light with only a termination without jail time.

Meanwhile, we see the veteran in Florida being indicted for possibly receiving $500,000 in disability benefits for possibly misstating how severe blindness is?

If you ask me, between 50 shades of not so gray and Mister Hawkins, it would seem IG has a real fetish for busting disabled veterans while letting senior leaders linked to millions in fraudulent bonuses and malfeasance of $150 million in supplies get off real light.

Source: https://www.va.gov/oig/pubs/VAOIG-15-01119-315.pdf

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115 Comments

  1. On August 2, the Vice Chairman of the federal Merit Systems Protection Board ordered a stay of VA’s removal of the former director of the Washington, D.C. VA Medical Center. MSPB’s stay order requires VA to return Brian Hawkins, fired on July 28, to work pending the Office of Special Counsel’s review of Hawkins’ claim that he was wrongly terminated. VA has complied with the order and returned Hawkins to the payroll, but to an administrative position at the VA headquarters in Washington rather than to a patient-care position at the VA Medical Center.
    โ€œhttps://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=2939โ€

  2. VA Secretary Shulkin to keynote health-care and technology Demo Day at Georgetown University

    August 7, 2017, 12:03:00 PM

    Organized by VAโ€™s Center for Innovation (VACI), Demo Day will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and provides a platform for 100 innovators to share highlights about projects they have created $$$$$$ to improve the lives of Veterans…..
    โ€œThis forum is essential to finding new ways to improve the lives of those who have served, and why itโ€™s critical to tap into the remarkable wealth of creative and technological ideas of our VA employees,โ€ Dr. Shulkin said. โ€œInnovations that have transformed health care, such as the implantable cardiac pacemaker, the nicotine patch and the first successful liver transplant, were developed by employees and inspired by the needs of our Veterans.โ€

    This yearโ€™s Demo Day presentations include: a Self-Leveling Walker … [so your back can now be out of wack instead of your walker..BRILLIANT IDEA] ….. that will help Veterans with orthopedic injuries or movement difficulties independently and safely negotiate stairs and inclines; a 3-D-Printed Upper Extremity Orthotics (Braces and Splints) project; and an Opioid Buyback Program, which offers financial reimbursement to Veterans who return unused medication to a VA pharmacy for proper disposal.

  3. Use Of Malaria Drug To Be Raised In Soldierโ€™s Hearing Over Killing Of 16 Afghans
    By Hal Bernton, The Seattle Times
    on August 6, 2017

    Bales, 44, was raised in Ohio, and deployed three times to Iraq, then to Afghanistan during more than a decade of Army service at what is now Joint Base Lewis-McChord. His last tour of duty ended as he was taken into custody โ€” wearing a blanket wrapped cape-like around his neck and clad in bloodstained pants โ€” on the morning he carried out the village attacks….Sounds like this guy needs help NOT JAIL

    In July 2013, the FDA issued its strictest warning about mefloquine, noting the potential for long-term neurological damage and serious psychiatric side effects. The defense team did not raise Balesโ€™ possible use of the drug during sentencing proceedings the next month.
    OHOOOO It cant be the drugs…Its not in his records so it didn’t happen …What BULLSHIT
    And I could go on for a day about the mistakes in my med. records

    AND FOR ALL YOU VA SPIES READING THIS GO FUCK YOURSELF !!!
    AND DON’T FORGET THAT ONCE WE VETS ARE GONE THERE WILL BE NO NEED FOR YOU,SO YOU WILL BE THE NEXT ON THE LIST U STUPID FUCK’S….SO JUST GO READ THE GEORGIA GUIDE STONES AND THINK ABOUT IF YOUR INCLUDED IN THAT NUMBER…..I THINK NOT

    1. Bales went berserk and killed. I nearly went berserk 1983. After an experience like that you feel you should be locked up to protect others from your “complex partial seizures.” Yes, I wrote to his defense attorney in Washington state about the possibility that he could be treated instead of incarcerated. Now I know, but didn’t then, that a seizure medication seems to take me out of the danger zone. The danger zone is having a complex partial seizure while being angry.

      No one understands something like this unless you have experienced it. Read or watch Anatomy of a Murder. The movie that Lee Remick got her start to stardom in. The murder got off with a defense of a “uncontrollable urge”. A com

      1. Not much more to tell. Look up “complex partial seizures.” I imagine, because he hasn’t been diagnosed and treated, SGT Bales had a similar experience to mine. Except his was augmented by alcohol and he probably fed his anger from the sniper killing a friend the night before while drinking. The alcohol probably extended the period when he was unaware of what he was doing and acting out the left brain (conscious side) without input from his right brain (which has the reality check) either because of damage and alcohol effect on the right brain or because of damage to the left temporal lobe. I suspect the left temporal lobe because that is the most frequent origination of complex partial seizures.

        Look up UTube presentations by Vilayanur S. Ramachandran. He is funny and you’ll enjoy watching his presentations. I’m cutting and pasting below an article from May 1995 Discover Magazine that gave me the first insight into my problem:

        FROM THE MAY 1995 ISSUE

        The Brain That Misplaced Its Body

        Though paralyzed on one side, Mrs. M. claimed she wasn’t–at least until she had cold water poured in her ear. Then, for a while, her brain could again perceive her body. And a neuroscientist could glimpse a secret about how we construct reality.

        By James Shreeve|Monday, May 01, 1995

        Mrs. M. is adamant. People are saying her left side is paralyzed, and she knows they are wrong. Several days ago the 76-year-old Californian suffered a stroke. She now sits in a wheelchair while a doctor in a crisp cream-colored suit bends over her, asking questions. She answers them with perfect coherence. Does she know where she is? Yes, she is in a hospital, brought here by her daughter. Does she know what day of the week it is? Of course. It is Tuesday afternoon.

        Then the doctor starts in again about her hands. Can she use her right hand? Yes. Her left? Yes, of course. He asks her to use her right hand to point to a student who is taking notes, and she obliges. He asks her to point to the student with her left hand instead. This time she doesnโ€™t move.

        Mrs. M., why didnโ€™t you point? asks the doctor. For the first time, she hesitates.

        Because I didnโ€™t want to, she answers.

        In fact, fibers in the motor cortex on the right side of her brain, which controls movement on her left side, have been irreparably damaged by the stroke, and she will never use her left arm again. But Mrs. M. is not a stubborn old woman refusing to admit a difficult truth. A few minutes later Mrs. M. looks at her left hand, resting inertly in her lap.

        Whose hand do you think it is?

        Well, it certainly isnโ€™t mine!

        Then whose is it?

        It is my sonโ€™s hand, Doctor.

        Mrs. M.โ€™s claim would be peculiar enough if her son were in the room, but he is miles away, unaware that in his motherโ€™s mind his hand has become attached to her arm. Mrs. M. is suffering from a condition called anosognosia, which sometimes appears when a stroke has cut off blood being supplied to the brain through the middle cerebral artery. The stroke damages regions in the brainโ€™s right hemisphere that include a territory called the right parietal cortex, a patch of neurons about two-thirds of the way back along the brain. The two parietal cortices (there is one in the left hemisphere also) are known to be involved in directing the brainโ€™s attention to movements, objects, and sensations on the opposite side of the body, as well as in the perception of that entire side of the body in space.

        While otherwise clearheaded, patients with damage to the right parietal cortex are unable–not just unwilling–to acknowledge the radical change that has overcome the left side of their body. (The term anosognosia derives from nosos and gnosis, the Greek words for disease and knowledge.) One of the best-known victims of the condition was Supreme Court justice William O. Douglas, who suffered a right-hemisphere stroke in 1974 that paralyzed his left side and eventually forced his retirement. He initially dismissed the paralysis as a myth, and weeks later he was still inviting reporters to go on hiking expeditions with him. When one visitor asked about his left leg, he claimed that he had recently been kicking 40- yard field goals with it in the exercise room and soon planned to try out for the Washington Redskins.

        Mrs. M.โ€™s form of anosognosia is even more extreme: she not only flatly denies she is paralyzed, she refuses to admit that the limp limb on the left has anything at all to do with her. One such anosognosiac became so incensed that somebody elseโ€™s leg was cluttering up his hospital bed that he heaved the thing out and was subsequently amazed to find himself on the floor. Another claimed that the arm on the left belonged to his daughter, who was trying to seduce him.

        We are used to thinking of our bodies as our selves, says Vilayanur Ramachandran–the inquisitive doctor in the cream-colored suit. Something has gone wrong here that calls that fundamental truth into question.

        Anosognosia is a fleeting condition, in most cases fading away within two weeks of the stroke that caused it. In the interim, however, patients like Mrs. M. may provide a window through which we can glimpse how we all perceive reality, how our minds organize and cope with the cognitive blitz of everyday life. While most of us have no trouble fessing up to ownership of our various body parts, we all are sometimes willfully ignorant of signals our bodies send to our brains–there might, for example, be a tiny twinge of ankle pain that weโ€™d rather not notice just before that weekend tennis game. In a new theory, Ramachandran claims that anosognosia can help explain why, how, and even where in the brain such everyday denials take place and how we combine them into a representation of the world around us. If he is right, this theory may also shed light on the function of dreams, and even on the mechanisms of memory itself.

        Looking at patients like Mrs. M. can be spooky at first, says Ramachandran, a neuroscientist and physician at the University of California at San Diego, and the Salk Institute nearby. But then you realize youโ€™re really looking at yourself, in amplified form.

        Ramachandran has made a career out of using spooky phenomena to reveal the workings of the brain. With optical illusions, he has explored the neural circuitry of vision. More recently he helped track down the neural basis for phantom limb, the sensation that most amputees have that their lost arms or legs are still attached to their bodies. His findings helped illuminate how the brain restructures itself during learning. From patients who feel phantom arms in the empty space beyond their shoulders, it was a logical step to look next at patients who denied arms that were indisputably real.

      2. @Lem: Thank you Lem, I am not sure what I was asking for. I think maybe about uncontrollable anger, not sure now.

      3. For me, I have to careful about feeding anger. It is easy to keep say angry things to keep the blood boiling when you are angry, especially at someone or some group. And if I can’t cool down I have to get in a lock up or make that finale exit. Rather kill myself than kill others and then, realizing what I had done, kill myself.

        That “reality check system” in the right brain keeps you able to check your anger in time. If it is dysfunctional either because of damage or because of temporary intoxication, or a combination, that is when people “lose it” the extreme, going berserk like Sgt. Bales.

      4. @Lem: That is what I was looking for. This can be tied to TBI? This uncontrollable anger? Like dragging someone through the window of their car, and leaving them in a bloody mess on the street? Not remembering after? Even when someone tells you what you did?

      5. That is it exactly. And you may even have a foggy memory but it isn’t one of doing but one of seeing yourself do. Different memory. The left brain is very protective of the ego. Without the check of the right brain reality check center located in the mid right lobe of the brain a person can do things they think they would never do.

      6. I feel much more at ease taking seizure medication for partial and complex partial seizures. I think it improves the brain functioning.

      7. (cont;)
        Ramachandran was unsatisfied by the two conventional explanations for the rending of body image demonstrated by anosognosiacs. The first is Freudian: to protect the ego against the appalling truth that one side of the body has been rendered permanently senseless, the mind simply refuses to admit to the facts at hand. But patients with paralysis caused by stroke in the left parietal cortex rarely deny their condition. Why should only people with right-brain stroke need to protect their egos from the truth?

        The second explanation is more neurological and less psychoanalytic: anosognosia is a special case of a more general syndrome that textbooks refer to as unilateral neglect. Some stroke patients with damage to the right parietal cortex fail to recognize anything in the left side of their perceptual domain. If they are asked to follow an examinerโ€™s finger as he moves it across their visual field from right to left, their eyes track the finger up to the midpoint, then stop. Patients with unilateral neglect may eat food from only the right-hand side of a plate, or shave only the right side of the face. Anosognosiacs like Mrs. M. often exhibit such behavior, too. Perhaps they are simply neglecting their paralysis in the same way they disregard everything else on the left side.

        Clearly the two phenomena seem related. Yet Ramachandran thinks this explanation, too, leaves much unaccounted for. Patients with neglect will ignore an object in the left side of the visual sphere, but they will readily acknowledge the object if their attention is drawn to it–if, for example, an examiner wiggles his finger in the neglected side of their visual domain and says, Now do you see it? Anosognosiacs, on the other hand, do not passively ignore their paralysis; they actively deny it, in spite of their complete inability to move. If pressed to account for such a conflicting state of affairs, they remain silent or try to explain it away, often concocting elaborate stories or chillingly surreal rationalizations. Neuroscientist Edoardo Bisiach at the University of Milan in Italy reported one 74-year-old stroke patient who repeatedly claimed that his left hand belonged to the doctor examining him. The doctor finally grasped the paralyzed hand between his own two and held it up to the patientโ€™s face.

        Whose hands are these? he asked.

        Your hands, the patient replied.

        How many of them?

        Three.

        Ever seen a man with three hands? the doctor asked.

        A hand is the extremity of an arm, said the patient. Since you have three arms, it follows that you must have three hands.

        There is more going on here than simply an indifference to or neglect of the left side of the body, says Ramachandran. And thatโ€™s whatโ€™s crying out for an explanation.

        One explanation might be that anosognosiacs only appear to be ignorant of their paralysis while in fact they are fully aware of what has happened but for some reason do not wish to express it. To test this hypothesis, Ramachandran devised a devilish experiment. He presented Mrs. M. and two other elderly stroke victims with a simple choice. They could win themselves a small box of candy or some other trivial reward by completing a task requiring one hand, such as fastening a large nut onto a bolt mounted on a heavy base or stacking some blocks. Alternatively, they could earn a much larger box of candy by successfully finishing an easy activity requiring two hands, such as tying a bow or cutting a circle out of paper with scissors. All three subjects exhibited neglect and denied the paralysis on their left side, but they were otherwise alert and aware of their physical condition. (One even responded to the choice by chiding, I am diabetic, Doctor. I donโ€™t eat candy. You should know that!) For control subjects Ramachandran chose two stroke patients who were also recently paralyzed on the left side by stroke and showed clear signs of neglect but no trace of anosognosia.

        As might be expected, the controls unhesitatingly chose to obtain the small box of candy by performing the task requiring only one hand, expressing surprise that anyone would even present them with such a choice since the two-handed tasks were obviously beyond their ability. But in 15 out of 16 trials, the anosognosiacs opted to try to win the large box of candy. After fumbling feebly with the laces or scissors, they would remain silent or offer some excuse for their failure. (I guess my arthritis is acting up. Oh, Iโ€™ve never been very ambidextrous.) Curiously, they never seemed to learn from their previous botched attempts or even remember them from one trial to the next.

        Itโ€™s very strange, says Ramachandran. No matter how often they failed, they never showed any sense of surprise or frustration.

        The inextinguishable faith in their two-handed abilities seemed to indicate that if the anosognosiacs knew they were paralyzed, that knowledge lay deep, buried well below the level where it could be freely accessed by their conscious mind. Yet certain things they said hinted at tacit knowledge of their condition, meaning that the information had been recorded in some part of the brain, whether or not it was immediately available. After failing repeatedly at the bimanual task of tying a shoelace, Mrs. R., a former journalist who was now in her seventies, later told a student that the nice Indian doctor asked me to tie a lace, and I did it, with both hands.

        Normal, unparalyzed people donโ€™t feel the need to draw attention to the fact that they can use both hands; they just do it, says Ramachandran. As Shakespeare said, โ€˜The lady doth protest too much.โ€™

        To probe the depth of that tacit knowledge, Ramachandran made use of an experiment performed earlier by Bisiach and his colleagues. They had temporarily reduced the symptoms of an anosognosiac by the simple means of pouring a small amount of cold water in her ear. The treatment wasnโ€™t as far-fetched as it might sound. In addition to hearing, our ears function as our gyroscopes. They house fluid-filled canals lined with microscopic hairs that sense acceleration; this information is transmitted through nerves known as the vestibular system to different parts of the brain. Some of these parts direct our bodies to make the adjustments needed to maintain our balance. Other parts, like the parietal cortices, are responsible for letting our eyes steadily track moving objects. To do so, they need to have information about how our bodies are moving in space–thus the connection between the vestibular system and the parietal cortices, and the basis for Bisiachโ€™s seemingly bizarre treatment.

        Bisiachโ€™s patient, a right-brain stroke victim in her eighties, claimed that her arm belonged to her mother, who had apparently left it behind in the bed when she was discharged from the hospital. When Bisiach poured cold water in the womanโ€™s left ear, her overstimulated vestibular system began to send confused signals to her brain, which concluded that her head was turning, and after a few minutes she involuntarily began moving her eyes rapidly back and forth to compensate–a process known as nystagmus. The patient was asked again whom the arm belonged to, and this time she admitted that it was her own. Bisiach ran a series of cold-water trials and found that it took anywhere from 15 seconds to two hours for the effect of the cold water to wear off. But once it did, the woman would invariably lapse back into the eerily unconcerned delusion that her arm was her motherโ€™s.

        Look, itโ€™s queer, but thatโ€™s how it is, she said.

        Ramachandran decided to try Bisiachโ€™s experiment on Mrs. M. Working with fellow San Diego neuroscientists Leah Levi and Lance Stone, he poured cold water into her left ear and waited until the rapid eye movement of nystagmus appeared. Asked to identify the owner of the arm lying in her lap, she stated that it was hers, of course. She also acknowledged that the arm was paralyzed. When Ramachandran asked her how long she had been in that condition, she accurately replied that she had been unable to move her arm for several days. Remarkably, it seemed that all the time Mrs. M. had been denying her paralysis, the knowledge of it was nevertheless being recorded in her brain. Yet when the effect of the cold water wore off several hours later, she not only reverted to denying the paralysis, she had no recollection of ever having come out of that state of denial. It was as if there were two completely separate Mrs. M.โ€™s: an anosognosiac version who was convinced that she was perfectly able to move her arm, and a cold- water version who acknowledged her paralysis but expressed total ignorance that she had ever denied it.

        The curious effect of the cold water on Mrs. M. fit neatly into a hypothesis brewing in Ramachandranโ€™s own mind. At any given moment in our waking lives, our brains are flooded with information pouring in from various senses, all of which has to be fitted coherently into a perspective thatโ€™s based on what our stored memories already tell us is true about the world. In order to act, the brain must have some way of selecting from this superabundance of detail and ordering it into a consistent belief system, a story that makes sense of the available evidence.

        But what happens when the information arriving from some source conflicts with the existing plot? If the conflicting information is only mildly important, one easy response might be to just ignore it. The twinge of pain in the ankle of that weekend tennis player, for instance, does not jibe with the reports received from other joints and muscles, much less with his sensesโ€™ appreciation of the glorious sunny day and his memory of last weekโ€™s exciting game. To keep the story consistent and intact, his brain edits out the information coming from pain receptors in the ankle. He might deny to himself that the pain exists, or he could rationalize it to fit with the prevailing belief system, perhaps by telling himself it will go away as soon as he loosens up.

        As an analogy, think of a military general in a war room, planning for a battle, says Ramachandran. He would ordinarily collect evidence from a large number of scouts, add it all up, and arrive at a decision on what to do next. Letโ€™s say the information from his scouts led him to call for an attack the next morning. But just before the scheduled attack, imagine one more scout arrives and tells him that he has underestimated the enemyโ€™s strength by a quarter. Even though that new information contradicts everything else he has been told, the general cannot afford to rethink the whole decision. Instead, he simply ignores the report from the new scout or tells him to get in line with what everybody else is thinking. He may even tell him to lie in order to preserve troop morale.

        Ramachandran describes this metaphoric general–who roughly corresponds to Freudโ€™s concept of the ego–as a die-hard conservative coping with reality by promoting the status quo and denying or rationalizing away any information that threatens it, in the interest of preserving stability. Such everyday defense mechanisms are not really maladaptive: they keep the brain from being hounded into directionless indecision by the sheer number of possible stories that might be written from the material available from the senses. Frequently, however, new, conflicting reports arrive that are too critical to ignore. If a scout presents a general with last-minute news that the enemy possesses nuclear weapons, it would be disastrous for the commander to carry on according to the existing plan. Likewise, the weekend tennis player can deny knowledge of his sensitive ankle without penalty, up to a point. If the pain receptors in his ankle are commanding attention whenever he puts weight on the leg, to ignore them would defeat the purpose of having pain receptors in the first place. Instead, the tennis player abandons the prevailing story–Tennis anyone?–and constructs a completely new one in line with the undeniable truth shooting up his leg from his ankle: Better rest up this week.

        To read the rest go to:
        “https://discovermagazine.com/1995/may/thebrainthatmisp502/”

  4. 08/06/2017

    Dear Benjamin Krause,

    Who is Mrs. Hawkins?

    Does she work for the Government? DOD? etc…

    Why has she not been mentioned in the News reports?

    Sincerely,

    Don Karg

    1. My daughter was just denied VA comp because she missed 12 appointments. Problem is that she received all of the notices a week or more after the appointment date.
      She has no idea what to do. At one time one of the letters indicated that she had to comply with 12 appointments within 1 week. All of the appointments were to be complied with within one week and she would have not only lost her small job but she travels for her job all over the country. When she called them about it, they gave her no option. Is that how the VA shortens the list of applicants? Anyone have an idea how to go from here?

      1. Call and get an appointment with the Chief of staff. Let the Chief of staff know you also prepared a letter explaining your situation. That you will be sending copies of that letter to the Secretary of the VA, your congressman, senators, and all major network news outlets. I think that should get their attention.

      2. File an SF-95. Get a statement from the postman who delivered the letters. It would have been a noticeable handful. Claim deception by the VA to deny compensation. Also call the IG. She won’t be the only one that was affected.

        She’ll get the appointments. It was a screw up in the VA medical facility’s comp and pen appointment desk. The clerk wasn’t putting the output in the out mailbox. General Counsel will correct it.

      3. I’m the daughter of the guy above.

        Getting a statement from the postman isn’t going to happen. I lived in an apartment at the time and have since moved to a house. The postman was never the same and there’s no way they’d remember my mail from anyone else’s.

        The problem with getting an appointment with the Chief of Staff is the same as if I tried to get any other type of appointment. I’m 31 years old and I travel all over the country, Monday-Friday for work. Weekday appointments are not possible for me. The VA decided (without my knowledge) to schedule me for Friday and Saturday appointments without consulting with me about my availability. These were the letters that would show up at my apartment after the fact. I had no idea I even had an apointment until the letters came and, by that point, I had already missed them. I received no phone calls, emails, or any other coorespondance ahead of time.

        I’m working with a lawyer for my claim and I told them all of this information. They’re going to prepare the SF-95 and see what other avenues to take.

      4. @BK: Lem gave you good advice on the sf-95 filing. Sometimes you can call the VA, tell them you would like an appointment to see the Chief of staff, but you will be connected to an underlying who will try to address, and solve your issue, before it ever gets to the Chief of staff, or worse, the director. Let us know the outcome, and good luck.

      5. BK,

        Be sure to complain about “deceptive techniques” (late notification, failure to call, failure to provide information ask and instead provide something else, etc.)

        Send me an email address of your attorney’s clerk. I’ll send them the filing I’ve made so far. They may wish to review and to join my tort claim and convert it to a class action. There are advantages to using Wyoming law.

        [email protected]

      6. So you missed 12 comp and pension examinations.?

        Did they tell you that they were denying your claim because of missing these appointments in writing.?

        You received letter after the fact, what did you do with the appointment letters you received, are they refusing you a new examination.

        You must keep every piece of mail sent to you, these letters are proof, post Mark shows when it was mailed out.

        All veterans must do this, the one you throw away is the one they will ask for.

  5. I could go on and on, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Don’t let
    this information scare you because without it you cannot be free, You have
    to understand that all slavery and freedom originates in the mind. When your
    mind allows you to accept and understand that the United States, Great
    Britain and the Vatican are corporations which are nothing but fictional
    entities which have been placed into your mind, you will understand that your
    slavery was because you believed a lie.

    1. thanks for posting all the great information you do.
      i appreciate your efforts.
      blessings be.

  6. FROM THE LINK ABOVE

    Great Britain to this day collects taxes from the American people. The IRS
    is not an Agency of the United States Government.

    These codes have since been changed to read as follows: IMF 300-309,
    Barred Assessment, CP 55 generated valid for MFT-30, which is the code for
    the 1040 form. IMF 310-399 reads the same as IMF 300-309, BMF 390-399 reads
    U.S.-U.K. Tax Treaty Claims. Isn’t it INCREDIBLE that a 1040 form is a
    payment of a tax to the U.K. Everybody is always looking to 26 U.S.C. for the
    law that makes one liable for the so called Income Tax but, it is not in
    there because it is not a Tax, it is debt collection through a private
    contract called the Constitution of the United States Article Six, Section
    One. and various agreements. Is a cow paying an income tax when the machine
    gets connected to it’s udders ? The answer is no. I have never known a cow
    that owns property or has been compensated for its labor. You own nothing
    that your labor has ever produced. You don’t even own your labor or yourself.
    Your labor is measured in current credit money. You are allowed to retain a
    small portion of your labor so that you can have food, clothing shelter and
    most of all breed more slaves. Did you ever notice how many of the other
    slaves get upset if you try to retain your labor. You are called an
    extremist, terrorist and sometimes even a freeman. They say that you are
    anti-government. When the truth of the matter is you just don;t want to be a
    slave. But, you do not have the right to force others to be free if they want
    to be a slave that is entirely up to them. If they want bow down and worship
    corporations, let them. The United States, Great Britain and the Pope are not
    the problem, it is the other slaves. We would be free if the
    want-to-be-slaves were gone. The United States, Great Britain and the Pope
    would not even exist, because no one would acknowledge them. I for a matter
    of fact, think that those who are in power are also tired of the slaves. All
    the slaves do is stand around and MOO!!! For free healthcare, free education,
    free housing and they beg those who are in power to disarm them I do agree
    that a slave should not have access to a firearm. How can you disagree with
    the government passing out birth control ? I hope the breeding of slaves
    stops or at the very least slows down.

    You see we are cows, the IRS is company who milks the cows and the United
    States Inc. is the veterinarian who takes care of the herd and Great Britain
    is the Owner of the farm in fee simple. The farm is held in allodium by the
    Pope.

    Now to Rome.
    “Convinced that the principles of religion contribute most powerfully to
    keep nations in the state of passive obedience which they owe to their
    princes, the high contracting parties declare it to be their intention to
    sustain in their respective states, those measures which the clergy may adopt
    with the aim of ameliorating their interests, so intimately connected with
    the preservation of the authority of the princes; and the contracting powers
    join in offering their thanks to the Pope for what he has already done for
    them, and solicit his constant cooperation in their views of submitting the
    nations.” Article (3) Treaty of Varona (1822)
    I’m just a stupid old marine, what do I know…LOL

  7. READ A LITTLE HISTORY/LAW AND YOU WILL KNOW WHY YOUR GETTING THE SHAFT…
    “But, indeed, no private person has a right to complain, by suit in
    court, on the ground of a breach of the Constitution. The Constitution it is
    true, is a compact, but he is not a party to it.” Padelford, Fay & Co., vs.
    Mayor and Aldermen of the City of Savannah 14 Ga. 438, 520

    You have to understand that Great Britain,(Article six Section one)
    the United States and the States are the parties to the Constitution not you.
    Let me try to explain. If I buy an automobile from a man and that automobile
    has a warranty and the engine blows up the first day I have it. Then I tell
    the man just forget about it. Then you come along and tell the man to pay me
    and he says no. So you take him to court for not holding up the contract. The
    court then says case dismissed. Why ? Because you are not a party to the
    contract. You cannot sue a government official for not adhering to a contract
    (Constitution) that you are not a party too. You better accept the fact that
    you are a Slave. When you try to use the Constitution you are committing a
    CRIME known as CRIMINAL TRESPASS. Why ? Because you are attempting to
    infringe on a private contract that you are not a party to. Then to make
    matters worse you are a debt slave who owns no property or has any rights.
    You are a mere user of your Masters property! Here are just a couple of
    examples:

    “The primary control and custody of infant is with the government”
    Tillman V. Roberts. 108 So. 62

    ” Marriage is a civil contract to which there are three parties-the husband,
    the wife and the state.” Van Koten v. Van Koten. 154 N.E. 146.

    “The ultimate ownership of all property is in the State: individual
    so-called “ownership” is only by virtue of Government, i.e. law amounting
    to mere user; and use must be in accordance with law and subordinate to
    the necessities of the State. Senate Document No. 43 73rd Congress 1st
    Session. (Brown v. Welch supra) You own no Property because you are a
    slave. Really you are worse off than a slave because you are also a debtor.

    “The right of traffic or the transmission of property, as an absolute
    inalienable right, is one which has never existed since governments were
    instituted, and never can exist under government.” Wynehamer v. The People.
    13 N.Y. Rep.378, 481 ….”https://www.apfn.org/apfn/queen.htm”

    The general ignorance of the western populations allows the media to create fake news. There are few that can reply to the mythmaking.
    SO BEND OVER AND HOLD YOUR ANKLES TIGHT
    Don’t take my word for it read it for yourself
    And sepp is right they are selected not elected, IT’S just a illusion for us slaves

  8. The Judicial System is Really to Protect the D.C. Corporation

    Why should they allow constitutional points of law in their courts when they are actually military courts? This Awareness indicates that most entities think the judicial system is there to protect the rights of entities according to the Constitution, the law of the land, the Bill of Rights and so forth, but they are really there to keep order in society and to protect those who have the power and the money and to assure that no one disturbs the infrastructure of the corporation being promoted from London or the state rules and those that are promoted by the courts as military organizations.
    MONEY TALKS ALL OTHER’S FOLLOW

    1. yes, we’ve been under martial law for a long long time.
      most will not believe all these things you say, oldmarine.
      even though you provide proof. evidence.
      they may even spit out the most hated of words ever: NAZI.
      lol. communism is an endemic scourge, many welcome with open arms.
      it’s so sad. just sadness.

      1. โ€˜Pope Francis is Not A Man Of Godโ€™ | Putin
        August 7, 2017 Covert Geopolitics
        The pope has become increasingly brazen this year in pushing the globalist agenda and far-left talking points upon the masses. Earlier this year he called for a global central bank and financial authority, and more recently he said โ€œAmericans need to be ruled by a world government as soon as possible for their own good.โ€
        “https://geopolitics.co/2017/08/07/pope-francis-is-not-a-man-of-god-putin”…….So just keep donating to the church basket, It will get you enslaved faster…LOL

        And I should clarify, YEA you elect a president but only after they select the ones u get to choose from, Just like appointing some one in charge of the federal reserve chairman, The PREZZ gets a list to choose from…. shame shit different day

  9. Without Justice, there is JUST_US!
    “https://www.apfn.org/apfn/secretoath.htm”

    1. @OLDMARINE: OLDMARINE, I like, I am going to use that from now on. No, I never heard that put that way before. Thank you for posting it

  10. Erie R.R. v. Thompkins, 304 U.S 64 (1938)..[FREEEEDOM AND JUSTICE FOR ALL WHAT A BULLSHIT STATEMENT]

    give you background which led to this decision. Some of this information is from the Ben Freeman tapes of 1989. They are excellent tapes if you have them. Ben used to talk about “legislative democracy.” I couldn’t find a definition for legislative democracy. It bothered me. However, by listening to his tapes as well as other tapes. I began to see the fraud that is being perpetrated on all of us Americans. Please understand that this fraud is a 24 hour, 7 days a week, year after year continuous fraud. It doesn’t happen just once in a while. This fraud is constantly upon you all your life. Whether you are aware of it or not, this fraud is perpetually and incessantly upon you and your family.

    U.S. Inc. Goes To Geneva 1930’s

    In order for you to understand just how this fraud works, you need to know the history of its inception. It goes like this: from 1928 – 1932 there were five years of Geneva conventions. The nations of the world met in Geneva, Switzerland for 5 continuous years in order to set up what would be the policy of all the participating countries. During the year of 1930 the U.S., Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, etc. all declared bankruptcy. If you try to look up the 1930 minutes, you will not find them because they don’t publish this particular volume. If you try to find the 1930 volume which contains the minutes of what happened, you will probably not find it. This volume has been pulled out of circulation or is hidden in the library and is very hard to find. This volume contains the evidence of the bankruptcy.

    Another form of trickery

    Customary International Law: Law that becomes binding on states although it is not written, but rather adhered to out of custom; when enough states have begun to behave as though something is law, it becomes law “by use”; this is one of the main sources of international law.

  11. On rereading the post, it became clear. No one in upper management is going down easy. Hawkins was fired for the least possible crime he committed. The VA OIG gave up? How long did the VA OIG the not guilty yet anyway, Veteran? A whole different story. The VA OIG should make his investigation public. I would like a second opinion. This VA OIG didn’t have his heart or head into this investigation. Or, he lies.

  12. For some time, I’ve mostly advocated for eliminating the VHA allowing Veterans Choice. All these Veterans Clinics the VA wants to open, and all these new criteria for Veterans to use Choice are unrealistic. Plus, Shithead likes the idea. Paranoid?

    1. @Jo3n – – – You are precisely on target. “Clement’s Lament” (your term) is a plan that will give true choice to all veterans. You are one of the commenters who contributed to the development of it. And all veterans truly do need a choice. Long overdue.

      @Ex va – – – Welcome back!

  13. Ben, as per normal operations here you are right on target with this article. If vaoig was to prosecute a medical center director for not accounting for supplies, obstruction, and putting Veterans lives at risk among other offenses they probably would have to fire at least half of all the va medical center directors for pulling the same crimes. Ben and others you are correct they do not go after directors for the serious crimes it is the lesser of the criminal acts that they seem to prosecute.

    1. Any idea what it would cost the VA to take employees to court and the other lawyer prolonging the trial.

      Its easier to forget about the millions lost and use something against the employee, so they don’t have to go to court..

      Your right if they would take them to court, a lot of dirty laundry would come out and other employees implicated

      That’s a can of worms, the va will avoid at any cost.

  14. The VA and Telemedicine. Can you imagine the research $$$$ for using we Veterans as human test subjects for new subliminal audio/video techniques? The VA could up their Veteran Suicide #’s by 100% each day by just sending the Manchurian Candidate Code to unsusceptible Veteran or Spouse/Survivor for instructions to not kill themselves ON VA parking lots or property. Or something like that. I do not trust these hacks.

    Plus, like roaches or vampires, once you invite them inside, good luck ridding the infestation and relinquishing of your Constitutional Rights.

    “Now it puts the lotion on it’s skin or it gets the rubber hose again”- “Silence of The Lambs” ๐Ÿ™‚

  15. @Crazy elf, is that the, ” medical system for America’s former military? “. That will hurt Veterans deeply, now and in the future. That will definitely hurt me.

  16. Here’s a brand new video out from;
    “President Trump Breaking News”
    Published on Aug. 3, 2017.
    (11:14 minutes long)
    Titled;

    “Breaking News Today, President Trump Latest News Today 8/3/17, Veterans Health Services!”

    “Telemedicine” at its finest for a —-
    “Single Payer Healthcare System for American Veterans!”
    Y’all need to watch this bullshit from “Liar Shithead Shulkin!”

    I put Ben’s site in the comment section! Hopefully, some of the people who see it will come here and learn more about how veterans are NOT being taken care of!

    1. @Crazy elf – – – The VA has promised me these Tele-Health Services for over a year. Hear are the heartless perps names at the VAMC located in Wilmington, Delaware. Cut and pasted from my personal VA med notes;

      โ€ข Previously, Mike Merrill (Outside Program Director and Veteran), was ordered by Michael Amos, Executive Assistant to the Chief of Staff, to work with Dr. Drew Wallace (Local Recovery Coordinator), to get me the Clinical Video Tele-Health (CVT) services. Dr. Wallace promised me the CVT services back in July 2016, but then reneged on his promise.

      My wife and I first had a meeting with Michael Amos about the broken promises by staff in providing me with PTSD Clinical Tele-Health and Home Based Primary Care Program (HBPCP), interfering with the training of my personal K9 PTSD-Alerting Service Dog, and incompetent health care practices.

      Then Amos ordered Merrill to work with Drew in setting up the CVT Services in my residence. Drew called me to verify that I had compatible equipment and software. Last I heard after being promised CVT Services, we don’t provide these types of services to Veterans. So what did I do, record false entries into my personal VA Medical Notes? Not. The VA lies, and will continue to do so until ACCOUNTABILITY is required AT ALL LEVELS.

      When I contacted Merrill (Veteran VA employee), he told me that he sent me an email telling me that the VA doesn’t provide CVT Services. I NEVER received an email from Merrill. We started to argue over the phone, and at the end, I told him to go “fuck off bitch.”

      Hey elf, since I’ve been receiving substandard care from the VA, I practice two things; (1) keep probing to find a way to get health care outside the VA, and (2) don’t count any eggs until they are in my basket.

      I’m still trying to find outside care. Making progress, but many times it is overwhelming, taxing due to anxiety, stress, and the feeling that we as Veterans, are like second class citizens. Plus, being a Biologist and K9 PTSD Service Dog Trainer, the VA and I don’t see eye to eye. Which I know from reading other posts, that this is a valid norm for Veterans to feel this way. Weez talkin bout da Rat Basturds of our local VA Medical Centers and Clinics. – – – Nutter.

      No ACCOUNTABILITY + No ETHICS = Creates a Environment that Breeds Corruption

      Fuck you VA. You Dirty Fucking Skanky Skunks

    2. VA Telemedicine is a crock of crap.

      The only thing they can REALLY do is a half-ass diagnosis, then schedule you an appointment to see a VA doctor at one of their facilities.

      At least when you go to one of their VA facilities, after the half-ass diagnosis – – – you can stop at the pharmacy, or decide to get the OTC stuff cheaper elsewhere.

      Here’s my question: Why can they not combine “tele-medicine” with a “roving MD”? When I was a kid, our doctor made house calls. Would be a great thing for vets who are homebound, and due to their disabilities cannot get to a VA facility.

      If the condition is serious enough, the doctor could certify the veteran for care at the local hospital on the spot.

      1. Damn Neuropathy! Then the Veteran could be transported to the hospital, admitted and treated with ALL costs being charged back to the VA right from the start.

  17. @James Clement, I also read in H.R.1690, that bonuses, all bonuses would be posted. Names and amount. Where are they? I agree, not worth dying for. It is worth living for.

  18. This stuff doesn’t surprise me. Too bad for us that the public doesn’t give a rat’s turd about this kind of thing and how veteran’s are always treated like 2nd class citizens. If you ask me there ain’t nothing here worth putting your life up for sacrifice for. Since returning from Viet-Nam I haven’t seen one swinging d*ck back here that’s worthy of risking your life for. Not one! I’ll never do it again. I’m too damn old anyway.

    1. Dennis, I speak with active duty and tell them to make sure they get copies of everything, as the VA will mess with them.

      Many have told me, they know and are spreading the word.

      Orange cush

      1. James,
        Many of my friends, and I, are reaching out to active duty personnel and telling them to get copies of every fuckin thing! Which includes medical records and personnel records!

  19. James Clement’s Lament…..and it’s a good one. Hawkins will show up somewhere. I read that actions taken crap. Like reading the binary system. The law says names of employee and their charges. Shulkin said that, he must have forgotten. Most VA employees that were fired, were; gardeners, kitchen staff, housekeeping, rehab counselors, and a time keeper. Who and where, along with reason are missing. The list said it was current thru July 25, ’17. I guess, I have to go back and compare situations, guess when, or if someone was fired for, …. That list is impossible for my little brain. This lack of respect for Veterans, really gets old.

    1. @Jo3n – – – I hear you. I (as a Veteran) am in one of the two most hated groups in the United States. For those of you who are both Veterans AND Christians – – – you have a “perfect score”.

      As I and many others stated when that list was first announced, it is absolutely meaningless without publishing the names of the offenders. Anyone could make that list up, and it would be unable to be verified without consulting numerous other sources. As that list currently stands, it is basically worthless.

      I am quite sure that we have not seen the last of Hawkins in “Public Service”.

    2. Hawkins will show up in urology being a new pecker checker. Also a mammogramohee put that floppy Titsk right in here. My favorite part crank squish. I not goin ask u to stop breathing cuz your mouth is wide open to scream.

  20. Good article, Ben.

    While it is good that Hawkins has been fired, I do agree that he got off very lightly. Just like Sharon Helman at Phoenix, and RimaAnn Nelson at Saint Louis. For the crimes they committed and the trouble they caused, they should have all been fired, prosecuted, then sentenced to a minimum 5 years with no time off. As the fictional detective Baretta (loved Fred the bird) said: “Don’t do the crime – – If you can’t do the time”.

    RimaAnn Nelson of course, was promoted for her actions, after being given a nice vacation in the Philippines on the taxpayer’s dime for a couple of years. Now she is the HMFIC at Phoenix.

    While this constitutes a slight improvement, the IG needs to be given some real teeth. I fully agree with Namnibor’s idea of placing Brandon Coleman in charge of the IG – – – then staffing it with whistle-blowers. THAT action would help to improve things system-wide at a much more rapid pace.

    If that is unfeasible, or unworkable – – – then it is just another reason to support my theory that it is high time for some real leadership at the VA.

    Leadership that speaks truth publicly about how bad things have really gotten. Leadership that develops solutions to take better care of ALL our nations warriors.

    Leadership that recognizes that when they are doing a good job โ€“ โ€“ โ€“ it will be veterans singing their praises, rather than the VA needing a PR Agency to put out โ€œFluff Piecesโ€ to mislead America.

    Current VA leadership has their Brain Housing Group the size of mice and their Hearts no bigger. It is about TEN YEARS PAST TIME TO FIX THE DAMN BROKEN VA:

    1. Recognize the problems inherent in the VA are SYSTEM-WIDE, not just limited to a few locations.

    2. Fire all the Lazy No Good Workers. Fire EVERY single AFGE/SES Employee.

    3. Sell off all the VA facilities. Alternatively, they may be converted into housing for homeless veterans.

    4. Issue all veterans a card that allows them to choose their own doctors within their community that they can TRUST.

    5. The United States Government will PAY those doctors promptly (Within 45 days) for the care they provide veterans.

    6. ELIMINATE the โ€œFederal Protectionโ€ Umbrella for incompetent QUACKS that the VA sends to other states to practice other than their own. Going to practice in Hawaii? You need to be LICENSED in Hawaii. Same applies to all other states.

    7. Any claim a veteran submits to the VBA that requires more than 90 days to adjudicate, is automatically found to be in favor of the veteran. If a VBA claim filed by a veteran is found to be a false one designed to scam the system, the VA will have to prove in civil court that a false claim was intentionally submitted.

    8. All veterans will be allowed to seek/retain the services of a Veterans Rights Attorney from their first initial contact with the VA.

    9. No AFGE, nor any other Labor Union business will be allowed to take place in any Federal Workplace.
    Conducting Union Business during working hours will be STRICTLY PROHIBITED, and will be STRICTLY ENFORCED. Should any government employee be found violating this provision, it will result in IMMEDIATE LIFETIME DISMISSAL FROM ANY/ALL GOVERNMENTAL EMPLOYMENT.

    10. Attorneys for appeal will be retained at the former employeeโ€™s PERSONAL expense. U. S. Taxpayerโ€™s will not be subject to payment of legal bills for incompetent or dishonest personnel with regards to Governmental Employment.

    You have my contact information Mr. Secretary. Call me anytime. I have a lot of ideas to help you improve the services provided to my fellow veterans. I will not hesitate to speak up at all.

    For my fellow veterans who have been ill-served by this CLUSTERFUCK of a train wreck called the VA over the years:

    Our battles overseas were far less stressful than our war here at home. Never Cruel or cowardly. Never Give Up. Never Give In. We are on the Righteous path.

    POTUS Reagan broke up PATCO in the โ€™80โ€™s. Time for POTUS Trump to break up the AFGE. Most of our current Congress Critters do NOT have Veterans Interests at heart. Perhaps their replacements will. VOTE OUT all these WORTHLESS INCUMBENTS.

    Give their replacementโ€™s one term to take care of Veterans who put aside their own personal lives to answer this nationโ€™s call when she needed them. Many of those Veterans suffer the remainder of their lives for doing what most of their countrymen had not the courage to do.

    If they cannot MUSTER THE STONES to do it properly โ€“ โ€“ โ€“ vote their worthless asses out as well. Party should NOT MATTER. What SHOULD MATTER is their VOTING RECORDS ON VETERANS ISSUES.

    Rhetoric is cheap. Congressional Voting Records speak louder than words.

    NO Combat Veteran should be surprised when the next McVeigh or Congressional Baseball Team Incident occurs. Bound to happen. Just a matter of time . . .

    We have now reached the next accelerative phase of our country falling apart. Country before Party. Principles before Personalities. Always.

    Want to REALLY fix the VA? The next SecVA needs to be a former Enlisted Man with a few serious axes to grind against the VA and the AFGE. Apparently, Former Flag Officers and SES appointed Civilians canโ€™t cut the mustard . . .

    Maybe a SINCERELY MOTIVATED Gunnery Sergeant or Chief Petty Officer CAN.

    Disgruntled Veteran
    1973 โ€“ 1976 USMC
    1978 โ€“ 1993 USN
    Wounded Warrior
    Honolulu, Hawaii

    1. hi to all of my family as part of the VA, you know i have been part of the systrm for over 34 years and one thing we all know is most people who work there make more money then we do even at 100% rating and no taxes taken out!!!! we give them a job and they mostly give us the shaft. many billions of dollars goes in one door and comes out in to somes one pocket who not the one who is the one to get it THE VETS. yes i know when people do wrong and get caught they get a new job and more money and a free vacation with the VA why not do wrong because you want that any ways and no repriasel hell your are more protected than the mob and better paid than those you are to serve. hell ya why not!!!!! because it is WRONG IN GODS EYES HIS LAWS AND AGAINS HIS CREATION TO DO SO THAT WHY. they will answer to HIM or us.

  21. Dam Elf,

    It’s bad enough that the VA is filled with floaters.

    Don’t the folks in Florida know they need to flush when their done doing their business in the head.

    Here’s another turd they found floating around so they polished him up and made him Florida Congressman.

    Us taxpayers can’t afford to keep paying all these floaters and the ghost they claim they have working for them.

    “Florida Congressman Pays Girlfriendโ€™s Family, Money Launderer For Unexplained Work”
    Luke Rosiak Investigative Reporter Daily Caller 12:15 PM 08/03/2017

    “https://dailycaller.com/2017/08/03/florida-congressman-pays-girlfriends-family-money-launderer-for-unexplained-work/”

    1. This turd has been floating around Florida since he was impeachment and removal from his post as judge on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. So they get out the turd polish and make him a Congressman who employs a whole staff of Ghost being paid nearly the same salary he dose.

      1. Dam they sure can pick them in Florida.

        Hastings was charged with accepting a $150,000 bribe in exchange for a lenient sentence and a return of seized assets for 21 counts of racketeering by Frank and Thomas Romano, and of perjury in his testimony about the case.

        He was acquitted by a jury after his alleged co-conspirator, William Borders, refused to testify in court, resulting in a jail sentence for Borders.

        Such high standards for a federal judge only $150,000 to cover 21 counts of racketeering in Broward county. Hey isn’t that Debbie Wasserman Schultz district. Yep sure is. Also the place where federal prosecutor Beranton J. Whisenant Jr body washed up on the beach with a bullet in his head the day after Awan’s wife hit the skies for Pakistan.

      2. “New VA Clinics OK’d For Jacksonville, 5 Other Florida Cities”
        By Cyd Hoskinson โ€ข 20 hours ago
        “https://news.wjct.org/post/new-va-clinics-okd-jacksonville-5-other-florida-cities”

        Shulkin is sure working hard to shut these palaces down, NOT.

      3. Just posted on the net, Trump authorized veterans to use telemedicine, Shulkin state’s this will benefit veterans.

        Veterans can use their smart phone’s, not all veterans have smart phone’s.

        Will a nurse, PA or a janitor be caring for us.

        Is congressman and senator’s going to use telemedicine.?

        I said it this way, would a machanic tell you to call him telemedicine to work on you car !

        Don’t think so. ! So Trump authorized veterans to use telemedicine, don’t think so all Secretary Shulkin’s idea.

        Who’s behind the curtain.????

      4. James Gallegos,

        You asked “Will a nurse, PA or a janitor be caring for us?” the answer is neither. There going to outsource tele-medicine to Pakistan Tech Support personal.

      5. Are u sure, thought maybe there were some Nazi left over and they were next to kill veterans.

        Apples and oranges I guess.

        Why even have a VA, veterans are doing all the work.

        Would a veterinarian tell people, I will treat your ? over the television. !

        Those people would be on the news and the news would be saying it was crulity to animals.

        Guess animals over veterans

      6. Nazi’s did not want to fight Americans at all. They were forced to fight by the actions of churchill, roosevelt and stalin.
        Nazis fought the communists. Tried to stop communism & corruption that you see now.
        They lost, obviously.
        Communists now rule.

      7. I could appreciate medical appointments by digital. While going over labs n at the same time scanning my butt crack for a pimple is pretty cool. LMAO

    2. What happened to jeb bush I bet he’s still skidding up the bowl somewhere, I’d like to smack around him and his brother george and make em cry like the real pussies they are…And I bet it wouldn’t take long for them to be asking for their mommy, …FUCK IT TIME TO BURN ONE…..EXHALE….These clippings ain’t to bad …lol

    3. Seymore,
      Just read the “Rosiak article”!
      Damn, I’ll bet that’s happening ALL across the country by democrats and other RINO assboles!
      How about this, Rubio was caught taking vacations on the taxpayers dime. And he used his government credit card for illegal activities as well!
      When he was caught, he paid the money back, and said everything’s ok now!

      Let’s NOT forget about our governor Scott. A real winner there, I can assure you! He started out owning two I’ve cream stores. Then was top dog of the hospital insurance company, all while leading up to owning $50 million, two mansions and a private jet!
      Sounds like he made a great living huh!

      Corrine Brown, well – what did you expect from that RINO, when faced with all those criminal activities she, and others, were getting away with? Of course it’s “RACISM!”
      I’ll bet she even claimed it was because she’s a female, on trying to get out of trouble, (Just like Hillary is claiming now!)!

      President Trump’s only been in office for about 7 months. He needs our help in getting the information out to anyone who’ll listen! Shit takes time to “Drain the Sewers of Washington D.C.!”

      1. The Admiralty Court Exists Because

        “https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/so”
        the U.S. is Under Martial law

        This Awareness* wishes briefly to remind entities that the admiralty court is the court in which the gold braid goes around the American Flag which indicates the court is under martial law, or under admiralty law, from the martial law since Abraham Lincoln’s executive order putting it under martial law, and in order to continue staying under martial law, the country has to have some kind of war every two years. Thus, the war on drugs, the war on poverty, et cetera, and the admiralty laws are used in the courts in such a way that they are not necessarily tied to the Constitution, although the Constitution is said to be the law of the land.

        Ooooops….and here comes for your entertainment “A Letter to the Sheeple”

        Thus Constitutional Rights only count when you get up into the Supreme Court, for there is a tendency to continue to use the Constitutional law in the Supreme Court because they do not want the people to know that the Constitution has been superseded by Admiralty Law. This Awareness indicates that therefore, the Supreme Court will often rule if there is a constitutional discrepancy, so that the lower laws are supposed to follow the Constitution, and yet, entering into a court of law, arguing with the Constitution, seldom is beneficial to an entity because they will say the entity is in the wrong jurisdiction in this court.

        They do not recognize your Constitutional Law in the jurisdiction of an Admiralty setting or court, and therefore, they will rule against you, This is the purpose of lawyers. They are clearly aware of their role in the Admiralty court, because you are not in the right jurisdiction for such.

        Until this shit changes it’s there party and we can cry if we want to but nothing will happen.

  22. Can’t have a functional single payer system in America – which the VA is. That would set a horrible example, and the boys with the real money (none of this one percent shit) wouldn’t like it.

    Aaah, there’s nothing like a morning adrenaline buzz fueled by anger, frustration, betrayal and disgust. So tactile I can smell it.

    Good morning to you
    Good morning to you
    Fresh out of the bat-room
    we head to the chat-room
    Good morning to youuuu.

    Daylight in the swamp.

    1. I think most of us would love to set that tune to the lovely, staccato cadence of gunfire.

      1. With heavy bass reverberating from Naval Battleship Canons and nice high note sounds of tracer rounds screaming. ๐Ÿ™‚

      2. I think that would be an acceptable reason to recommission those big beautiful behemoths. We could record it and send a copy to Kim Jong Un “This is how you execute a motherfucker”

      3. @Namnibor @Wyldechylde – – – I 100% agree with bringing back the Battleships. Build 6 new ones based upon the Iowa class with modern technology. Keep the old-school Armor Plating, etc.

        With 85% of the world’s population living within range of Naval Gunfire – – – it makes good sense.

      4. I say build them with 3-4 reactors and just install massive banks of railguns on them 1 reactor to power the boat the other 2-3 to power the railguns ๐Ÿ˜€ ๐Ÿ˜€ ๐Ÿ˜€

      5. @Wlydechylde – – – Three A4W reactors for power, 2 S5W reactors for the railguns. Normal Ops Config: 2 A4W online, 1 offline. 1 S5W online, 1 offline. Power and redundancy.

    2. UM let me see if I get this straight. You complain about the VA and how it operates but then you want the same thing for a national health care system that the vast majority of the citizens said they did NOT want when Hillary tried it back in the 80’s (a direct violation of the Anti Nepotism Act of 1968) and again when Pelosi and Reed forced the ACA down our throats in the “oughts”?

      You do know that your post is a contradictory statement…right

  23. How did Mr. Hawkins move up to Director? Internal promotion? When I was on the long term care unit in DC in the late 1990s I was given aspirin (distinctive taste) instead of Tylenol #3. Also prescriptions were written in my name that were never picked up by me or sent to my mailing address when I wasn’t hospitalized.

    I was falsely accused by the head of the homeless out reach of being an addict simply because I was homeless. That happens a lot. also happened in San Diego. Glad the labs now include drug screening so these erroneous entries in your record can’t be made.

    One of the things I complained about and suggested the solution to in letters to the VA Central Office.

  24. Just like what Happened in Peru Indiana and Detroit Michigans VA regional medical center

    1. Dan,
      I would venture to say, this has/is occurring in at least 99% of ALL VA’s nationwide!
      No law enforcement agency wants to touch going after VA! They are a criminal interprise all by themselves.

      In my opinion, they are worse than any mafia organization to ever get a foothold in America! The mafia paid off police departments, mayors, senators, Congresspersons etc, etc, etc during their heyday! And, It’s STILL occurring today. Only, it’s in the guise of ALL our government’s agencies!

      Just thinking out loud again!

    2. Inspection of the VA Regional Office Indianapolis, Indiana
      “https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USVAOIG/bulletins/1ae9655”
      NOW GO SHINE YOUR BOOTS

      1. Shine your own boots. Krause was the one that sent out the info for the Indianapolis VA hospital.

  25. Like VA is lying always says just one big RICO crime act for $$$$$$$$$$$$ the shit never ceases, That 150 million is a drop in the bucket the higher ups are stealing much more than that, otherwise someone would fix the problem….Or they don’t want to end up like these honest folks….[WATCH VIDEO]
    And it always goes back to the cia crooks one world agenda, at any price using our own tax dollars to fuck us over….What a deal……

    OPERATION EARNEST VOICE IS DESTROYING NASA/.GOV WHISTLEBLOWERS by Captain Obvious
    Captain Obvious
    “https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zR-T2Ocksqo” 14 min

  26. Here’s an interesting video out from;
    “THE STILL REPORT”
    Dated: 3 August 2017 (02:59 min. long)
    Titled:
    “Seth Rich Murder Was Ordered By CIA Chief Brennan, 1734?”

    The “link” given at the bottom of his report is from a VERY influential “liberal” exposing the crime! It’s definitely worth checking out!

    1. nobody is elected.
      i wish veterans would stop spreading lies for the mainstream lugenpresse.
      elections have been compromised for years.
      i posted conclusive proof of this, right here on this website, before the elections.
      did the readers here ignore that evidence?
      tsk tsk, not very smart, eh?
      nobody gets elected.
      that’s more fake news that you bought.

  27. I received this bullshit from:
    “Military.com/daily news”
    this morning.
    Titled:
    “Congress OK’s Big Boost in GI Bill College Aid for Veterans”
    Dated: 2 August 2017
    Associated Press | by: Hope Yen.

    What’s not discussed in the article is;
    Where are they getting the monies to support this? Will it be coming from the new allocations? Doesn’t the VA handle G.I. educational benefits?
    And, the first commenter is, in my opinion, NOT happy with veterans receiving additional educational benefits!

    More bullshit from Congressional representatives!

  28. under the democratic party, employees within that payroll classification do not get fired. The resurface in a different town under a different job classification after enjoying a paid sabbatical. This will sound racist, but the truth is attractive light skinned black Americans get away with more shit than their darker cohorts. I’m in the business, I have seen it for years

    1. Well, brother.
      It’s been said,

      “Truth is the new hate speech!”

      I guess one could change the wording to;

      “TRUTH is the new Racist Speech!”

      It basically means the same thing! Isn’t that the “normal rhetoric” for Democrats and RINO’s in Washington D.C. to come up with!?!?!?

    2. they have to keep the darkies in charge to keep the white man down. looks like it’s working just fine.

      1. It’s whiteys running the blackeys for sure. Once in a while if the blackey does them real proud by corrupt behaviors they move up. But they have to be dirty as dirty can get. It’s whiteys in charge of this corrupt organization. And no politician has enough sense not to be outwitted by morons. I’m just enjoying the fallout long overdue. I stay away for sure. Oig must not be very good at what they do, unless they turned him to all procedures involving corrupt operations. And there are many. That email he. Sent his wife had employees name on it. Plz don’t tell me the family members r hit squad for those who spoke up. Do they get bonuses too? Or resell medical supply’s? Or drugs? LMAO that’s the norm new stay at home mom.

  29. It feels like the VA is sending a very clear message with this one. Mess up the inventory to the tune of $150 million, no worries. Put Veterans health and lives at great risk due to total incompetents, no worries. Run a sham investigation and manufacturing false documents to cover up the paying of illegal bonuses, no worries. But sending VA documents that may put the VA in a bad light, your fired.

    That is your fired until they can find you a new job at a different location with a promotion.

    Namnibor & Elf,

    Definitely an floater.

    1. Here we have another example that it is not against any policy or law, that fired VA employee names can be posted or named.

      No, excuse why the public and the Veterans can see who was fired and why and where. Veterans surly need this type of information. What if one of the employees harmed some veteran, that veteran should know !

      I think someone has to call the VA out on this one. Secretary Shulkin is a VA employee and his name comes up almost everyday.

      The VA, is not being straight forward with needed information. Name Names, it cant be against the Law or these names would not be in print.

      Thanks Seymore

  30. Yesterday, I put the Washington D.C. phone number on here. So anyone could call their respective representative. Here it is again;
    (202)224-3121.
    After two prompts, you’ll be able to talk directly to a person responsible for your voting district!
    _____________________________

    I agree with Ben’s assessment of this VHA director getting off light!
    I guess “…unlawful sharing of personnal data with his wife…”, at least, according to oig, IS worse than murdering veterans!

    In my opinion, this bullshit is just a “bone” thrown at veterans! Because Now; “Liar Shithead Shulkin” can say, “See, I fired another high ranking individual. Who was doing wrong against veterans!” Then, he’ll probably say the director “…was not fulfilling VA’s prime directive of serving veterans needs!”
    See how that works!!!!!

    How many of y’all think he’ll be fighting to get his job back, like Sharon Helman is in the process of doing? (By the way, Is Helman still being paid?)
    How many of y’all think, IF he does get his job back, he’ll be transferred to another VHA site?

    FUCK THE VA, AND EVERYONE WHO WORKS THERE!
    FUCK CONGRESS, AND ALL THE DIFFERENT AGENCIES, FOR ALLOWING IT TO HAPPEN!

    Yes, in a mood this morning!

    1. I can already tell by the expression just on Mr. Hawkin’s VA photo/mugshot, that he will be a fierce floater, will even possibly get both the AFGE and NAACP involved, then be akin to Helman and Graves, undunkable floaters.
      I’m betting Mr. Hawkin’s line of turds can be traced back to being an Obamanation kling-on…so Ben’s use of the term “pinched-off” if applicable to this absurd turd named Mr. Hawkins.
      This will be little different in the end, as that corrupt VA Director from Puerto Rico VAMC that floated, fired, rehired…as will Mr. Hawkins. Wait for it…

      In a mood as well.

    2. LOL, what a joke. put the phone number up here again. yesssirreee. give em a call. that’ll get something done. anyone that still believes these jokers are representatives of regular people are brain dead. or maybe working for them … like Hawkins.

      why Do you want people to believe that these representatives care about phone calls or emails or letters?
      do you do that so people won’t try effective action?
      keep the lie going that representatives work for people, not the controlling corporation. haha.

    3. CRAZY ELF:; THANK YOU for expressing my feelings. LAST time they asked me what I honestly thought about the V.A. and the service I was [receiving?]. SO I gave them an honest answer, got barred from my outpatient clinic and told I would be arrested if I ever came back on the property , at least it was a nice looking female officer that escorted me to my truck. I finally got so bad I called them and had to go to a directors hearing 7 female directors and one overweight lieutenant inspector proud to show his badge and “38 detectives special” because they considered me a threat to their safety. ” ME 5/7 146 soaking wet, paralyzed left upper side,left leg 2-1/2 inches shorter than my right,wearing a support boot, and at the time in a wheelchair”. IF they considered me a threat they must have armed guards at home to protect them from their children. All together it took me damn near 3 yrs. to see a DR. and they gave me a doozy.

      1. The VA is accuser, judge and jury ! You have just joined thousands of veterans that have been reported as being disruptive.

        I was also accused, they or one former coworker, told the Denver VA, that I would come into my local clinic at least twice a month and become disruptive. !
        .
        I requested any and all proof that they used to prove that I had ever been disruptive, Answer from the chief of staff. ” there is no proof.

        VA regulations state ” any and all disruptive behavior must be documented in the chart !

        One would think that if a veteran would have come into a clinic at least twice a month and become disruptive, someone would have written some sort of report !
        .
        They can not even put me at the clinic at any time and yet they punished me for 5 year’s and added insult to injury by stating the following !

        “If the VA ever hears that you are reported again as being disruptive, you will have federal charges, arrested and banished from all VA care.

        I have been fighting this since 2004, have a letter to senator Bennett’s office, stating. ” due to the reporting of Mr Gallegos being disruptive, the va never coded his official medical records as being disruptive and his official medical records Were Never red flagged.

        Lie, lie, lie, I have collected real proof and sent it to Secretary Shulkin’s office in May.

        I filed a class 6 felony against the employee who reported me and gave name’s of all employees involved.

        Have not heard from his office as of today, I was contacted by the Denver VA and got the run around once again.

        I told Secretary Shulkin’s office that if they send everything to the Denver VA, they would not be straight forward and tell the truth.

        You may want to do the same, I sent copies to the white house and the senate committee on veterans affairs, so no one can say they did not know about it.

        Every letter Secretary Shulkin’s office gets they must investigate and must report to the congress, Senate and the senate committee on veterans affairs and have to explain the action they took or did not take.

        I believe if enough veterans do this, the va will have to do something to stop veterans from being falsely accused.

        This disruptive committee is illegal and have no business punishing veterans, they are not part of our judiciary system.

        This illegal committee is violating every single right afforded to the people of the United state’s, they are our human civil and constitutional right’s to a fair trial.

        Ben, said it best, the va is acting like communists, pretty soon they will kill veterans using gas chamber’s.

        Fight it !!!!!

      2. Denver is a crap hole! They lie, change medical records all the time to make sure there’s no evidence. If rock the boat? The called the regional office informing them my disabilities were better and changed records for proof. When went to a different state for care? They called and canceled appointments. There are some awful people working there and only getting worse.

      3. Write to Shulkin and tell him how you have been treated. The VA rating is worse than Phoenix per news report.

        The clinics in southeastern colorado were rated at below poor.

        Yes, these people have made the VA, their own and if veterans get in the way, they will and do report them as being disruptive and punish them.
        .
        Evidence is required per VA regulations, nope hearsay is law !

        Yes, I caught 2 employees messing with my official medical records and they made sure it said NSC.

        One died of cancer and the other one is still working and I’m sure still doing this. In management now !

        They love employees willing to harm whom ever.

    4. This is a dam shame. H got off light? Did he lose any benefits or retirement pays? he will be back in some form or another. Just like Sharon. SMH. Drain the swamp my ass. The swamp looks to be spilling over.

    5. It’s true. I work at the Dallas VA and it’s the same there. They have people in the wrong positions or p pole given positions because they are buddies. They are pay techs $25 hr to walk around and do nothing. I have seen people and drug addicts who work there get promoted to positions they are not qualified for. The Food Service Manager get paid $100,000 a yr and never walks in the kitchen, stays mostly in his office all day asleep. They don’t have real Diet technicians either. They hired buddies in those positions and they make $28hr to walk around with a computer taking Diet orders that’s absolutely NOTHING

      1. I bet this makes you mad, what your are saying is the truth.

        You know whistle blowers are protected are you willing to become a whistle blower if not why not.

        I can probably answer that question, you don’t believe you will be protected and you will be retaliated against and you have to feed your family.

        We veterans understand that, we also know if you don’t do it who will. If you Should decide to blow the whistle, make sure you obtain the proof, pictures, written document any thing that would prove what your saying is the truth and nothing but the truth.

        If enough veterans and employees fight together we can make real changes.

        Former VA employee ! Thanks for your input.

  31. “[…Our trusty VA OIG was only able to catch him red handed sending unauthorized emails to his wife.

    I am glad he was pinched, but in light of the overall gravity of the scandal there, he seems to be getting off light with only a termination without jail time….]”

    If JAIL TIME is not served as cold as a dish of revenge to these scumbags for the fraud they actually have done, then it’s more likely than not that Mr. Hawkins will now be a floating turd in the VA’s Whack-A-Mole network of floating turds. Where he pops-up next, will be equally absurd.

    Mr. Hawkins, the absurd VA turd. The VA will rehire him after a magical number of days and make Mr. Hawkins in charge of all VA medical supplies procurement….wait for it…

    The VA OIG is an effective fox for guarding the VA henhouse from true accountability.

    That new VA Whistleblower **Position* should be Brandon Coleman, IN CHARGE OF VA OIG. Stack all the rest of the VA Whistleblowers on the VA OIG and get rid of all the foxes guarding the henhouse. <—*IDEA*

    1. @Namnibor – – – Nice “Road sign” ๐Ÿ™‚ ๐Ÿ™‚ ๐Ÿ™‚ Taken for future action.

    1. SAME CRAP DIFFERENT DAY AGIN VA DC HQ ONE BIG BIG BIG FEDERAL RICO CRIME RACKET VA BUDGET FOR 2018 186 BILLION $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$44444 VA DC HQ SEWAGE RATS ARE DOGS IN HEAT FOR ALL THAT $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ BIG BONOUS FOR THE VA RATS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

      1. As you said. N all I want is one day with VA budget. Rent a fucken island VET partayyyy. All the trim mings. Our money let take it back. LMFAO

    2. One Big Ole Draining the Swamp Speech i can see on the Whorizing again. While letting them get away with murder with pay, like a white race soldier cop with pay or suspended pay. Boy those Unions can benefit the public very well these days huh???? or the Bastards that just pay the dues…

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